Share this with

Tommy Robinson is using victims and survivors of these horrendous crimes to serve his racist and violent agenda (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Fourty three women’s organisations and individuals have come together to reject the money that ‘Tommy Robinson’ (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) has pledged to victims of sexual abuse in a campaign video for the European elections.

We don’t want to give attention to a man so desperate for publicity but we think it’s important to explain why we want nothing to do with his money. We stand against his dangerous brand of racism, thuggery and misogyny.

Robinson’s ‘pledge’ is part of his pretense that he cares about survivors of abuse. The truth is he is using victims and survivors of these horrendous crimes to serve his racist and violent agenda.

This is an insult to victims and survivors. This letter is signed by women and organisations which have existed for over 30 years championing the rights of survivors and providing long term support. This work is hard, and Tommy Robinson has never been part of it. In fact, what he does is spread harmful myths about who perpetrates sexual abuse.

Advertisement

Advertisement

We know that girls in towns all over the country have been raped, kidnapped, beaten, threatened and even murdered by groups of men operating in gangs over decades. The people who should have protected them failed. This horrific abuse has happened because of the vicious misogyny of abusers who targeted girls they knew wouldn’t be protected because of their age or their background.

Girls were failed by social workers, health workers and teachers who convinced themselves they wanted relationships with older men, even though they were exploiting and harming them. Girls were failed by police and a prosecution service that decided they’d make terrible witnesses so the abusers weren’t brought to justice.

Girls of all ethnicities have been targeted and harmed by these gangs of men. The offenders are men of all ethnicities. The most common feature of these gangs is that they are involved in organised criminal networks together.

This abuse is one form of organised, predatory child abuse in this country. It sits alongside online groomers and the most common kind of abuser: the male relative or friend of the family who is able to establish trust of victim and those close to her.

What really is scandalous is our society’s failure to deal with this. We fail thousands of children, especially girls, who need help every year, and the effects of this for survivors are often lifelong.

Robinson’s claim that this is a problem with one ethnic or religious group is grossly offensive to the victims and survivors of these crimes.

The thuggish men leading far-right marches and inciting racial hatred from platforms in our towns are not women’s rights activists. They have never before called for women’s equality, or for sexual freedom, or for women’s right to equality at work, for childcare to be shared between mothers and fathers.

The real truth is organisations that specialise in actually supporting victims and survivors of childhood sexual abuse, exploitation and rape are fighting to keep their services open, and struggling to meet the demand as more and more survivors are trying to access specialist support. (In fact a survivor Fern has recently called on government to properly fund Rape Crisis services.)

The reality is that funding is desperately needed. But money from this man? That’s too high a price to pay.